The Natural Sound of the Ocean

1920 CE - 2022 CE

“Whales and other marine mammals rely on their hearing for life's most basic functions such as orientation and communication. Sound is how they find food, find friends, find a mate and find their way through the world every day… “Imagine what it must be like for you as a whale trying to listen and sing through the constantly growing smog of noise a smog that is so pernicious that your acoustic world is now 10% of what it was for you just 30 years ago.” Human-caused noise in the ocean whether it's the sound of airguns used in oil exploration or subs and ships emitting sonar can drown out the noises that marine mammals rely on for their very survival causing serious injury and even death… "

WHAT YOU CAN DO

  • Buy goods made locally, reducing the needs for overseas shipping.

  • Reduce reliance on fossil fuels, especially offshore oil-well exploration.

  • Petition the Navy to adopt sonar safety-measures.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

The National Public Radio - National Geographic Society - Radio Expeditions Sound Collection at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology